Dear Friends,
At first, I was dumbfounded.
Now, I’m angry.
On March 29, the Kansas House of Representatives voted against a bill that protects faith-based adoption agencies from being shut down because of their beliefs. Since that day, our coalition has been working.
We worked with individual legislators to answer questions and respond to concerns. We explained the legislation doesn’t create any new policy or funding, it merely puts in the law what’s currently in practice. We reminded that the vast majority of agencies in Kansas will continue to place kids with single parents and same-sex couples.
We kept working as the nation’s largest and most powerful LGBT activist group came to Kansas to call us bigots and lie about the bill.
We worked to respond to the extremely biased reporting by the Kansas City Star and Wichita Eagle.
We have worked with the conference committee and agreed to amendments that clarify exactly what the bill does and doesn’t do. We kept working when those agreements were broken.
Enough is enough. The session is almost over. It’s time for your representatives to finish the work.
The Human Rights Campaign, Equality Kansas, and the ACLU have made their position clear: the Christian understanding of marriage is bigotry, and anyone who holds that view should be barred from helping kids.
Our position is clear: Kansas is a place that respects everyone’s right to live and work in light of their religious beliefs, and disagreements over sexual politics shouldn’t get in the way of helping kids.
Here is a list of 10 key Republican members of the House who voted no the first time. We need them to vote yes.
Make calls. Write emails. Share this list with your friends.
Tell them they are either going to protect Christian adoption agencies or side with radical, uncompromising groups like Human Rights Campaign who will shut them down.
Remind the representatives that you don’t know how many members of Equality Kansas are in their district, but Christians VOTE and elections are coming up.
Do it now. Time is running out.
- Blaine Finch (Ottawa): 785-296-7655 or blaine.finch@house.ks.gov
- Don Hineman (Dighton): 785-296-7662 or don.hineman@house.ks.gov
- Susan Concannon (Beloit): 785-296-7644 or susan.concannon@house.ks.gov
- Russ Jennings (Lakin): 785-296-7447 or russ.jennings@house.ks.gov
- Anita Judd-Jenkins (Arkansas City): 785-296-7671 or anita.judd-jenkins@house.ks.gov
- Fred Patton (Topeka): 785-296-7460 or fred.patton@house.ks.gov
- Tom Phillips (Manhattan): 785-296-7402 or tom.phillips@house.ks.gov
- Mark Schreiber (Emporia): 785-296-2721 or mark.schreiber@house.ks.gov
- Kent Thompson (Iola): 785-296-7451 or kent.thompson@house.ks.gov
- Troy Waymaster (Bunker Hill): 785-296-7672 or troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov
THANK YOU for working with us to get Adoption Protection over the finish line.
Sincerely,
Eric Teetsel
President and Executive Director